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Men gathered at a meeting place for area Muslims express anger over bin Laden's "in the name of Islam" assertions.
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 14, 2001
TEMPLE TERRACE -- At the Al Aqsa Cafe on 56th Street, a few miles from the University of South Florida, the tape of Osama bin Laden talking about the Sept. 11 attacks inspired outrage among the men gathered Thursday night.
"It's making me angry that he is saying that he did this in the name of God, in the name of Islam," said Adel Blassy, a 46-year-old Egyptian native who has lived in Tampa for 12 years. "He did it for Osama bin Laden and his followers. It's not what Islam is all about. It satisfies a devious ideology that he had."
Blassy, a U.S. citizen, said he stayed home from the engineering consulting business he owns to watch the tape on television.
Others at the cafe were reluctant to give their names, although they expressed anger over what they saw on the tape.
The cafe is a meeting place for Muslims in the area. The mostly male clientele plays cards, drinks tea and smokes flavored tobacco in the tall glass water pipes known as hookahs.
A big-screen TV in the dining room is always tuned to Arabic-language channels, usually the Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera.
At the Al-Aqsa grocery a few doors down from the cafe, Arab immigrants can buy hard-to-find spices, imported olives and freshly baked pita bread. After Sept. 11, the store's owner taped an American flag to the window in an effort to prevent misguided retaliation.
The name of the cafe and grocery refers to one of the most sacred spots for Muslims in Jerusalem. Within Al-Aqsa is a mosque and the Dome of the Rock, from which Mohammed made his journey to heaven.
There are about 11,500 people of Arab ancestry in the Tampa area, according to Census data.